The present application is based on and incorporates herein by reference Japanese Patent Applications No. 2001-130125 filed on Apr. 26, 2001 and No. 2001-350438 filed on Nov. 15, 2001.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting structure for mounting vehicle electrical devices on an interior member such as an instrument panel.
2. Related Art
In a vehicle, accessories (electrical devices) such as a battery charger for a mobile phone, the display of navigation equipment and a tachometer, which operate based on electrical signals received from the vehicle, are mounted on mounting portions of an interior member such as an instrument panel. It is proposed that a mounting structure for mounting the accessories on the mounting portions includes wiring for transferring the electrical signals to the respective accessories.
Therefore, when a user replaces one of the accessories with another accessory to taste, he/she should newly install the required wiring. However, this wiring work requires some technique. Accordingly it is difficult for the user to replace the accessories.
The present invention has an object to provide a mounting structure for mounting electrical devices on mounting portions of an interior member of a vehicle, which enables a user to readily replace the electrical devices.
A mounting structure according to the present invention includes a mounting portion on which an electrical device arbitrarily selected from a plurality of vehicle electrical devices is mounted. The mounting portion is disposed on an interior member in a vehicle compartment, and includes communication means for transmitting a multiplex signal into which a plurality of control signals for controlling the respective vehicle electrical devices are multiplexed to the electrical device mounted on the mounting portion.
Preferably, the mounting portion includes non-contact type power transmission means, and transmits power from the battery of the vehicle to the electrical device mounted thereon via the power transmission means without touching the electrical device. The communication means transmits the multiplex signal to the electrical device via radio waves. Further the mounting portion includes mounting means which enables a user to mount the electrical device on the mounting portion in a single procedure. Moreover, preferably, the mounting structure includes a plurality of mounting portions each of which is similar to the above mounting portion. The interior member is an instrument panel, and a cover member is detachably mounted on the top surface of the instrument panel. The mounting portions are arranged on the cover member.